Toronto FC is keeping the faith, but, realistically, the rest of this season will be spent playing the spoiler role.

Sure, the math says last year’s Major League Soccer champions aren’t officially out of the playoff mix, but even a win at BMO Field versus the New England Revolution and victories in the final four matches after that would leave the club sitting at 45 points. The Montreal Impact, perched in the sixth and final playoff spot in the East for weeks now, only needs to split its final two outings to finish with 46 points. There’s also the matter of D.C. United being five points up on Toronto with a game in hand, or the Revolution also sitting five points ahead, just five back of the Impact with a game in hand.

What the struggling Reds can do with a win then on Saturday evening would be to keep hopes alive for another week, while also dealing New England a sizeable gut punch in its own chase for a first playoff appearance in three years.

A TFC loss, along with a Montreal victory in Washington would officially eliminate Toronto.

The Revolution has picked up at least a point (three draws) in each of its past four games, but has only scored 43 goals, once of the lowest totals in the conference.

That could be helpful for Toronto, on pace to set a franchise record for goals against, and has allowed fewer than two goals in a game only 10 times (with only three shutouts).

“The amount of goals that we have given up is an enormous problem,” TFC head coach Greg Vanney told reporters earlier this week, saying the porousness explains the club’s drop from the top, to the bottom of the standings.

Vanney was incredulous In New Jersey on Saturday about how his team, which had looked impressive for much of the proceedings against an elite New York Red Bulls team, could have possibly surrendered the opener. Captain Michael Bradley was concerned about the play as well, since it started with TFC taking a free kick and ended up behind Alex Bono at the other end.

“Frustrating,” was how Bradley termed the sequence, noting how New York had barely created anything on the attack up to that point.

Perhaps that fact can be taken as encouragement, considering the consistent defensive issues that have plagued the team for months.

If so, it will be too little, too late, but perhaps something to build on.

“As long as we can keep winning, we put pressure on other teams to get results,” Vanney said of perhaps starting with a win against the Revolution, a team that has won three of four recent meetings against Toronto. “That’s about the best we can do at this point.”

Toronto fell 3-2 at New England back in May, going down 2-0 just seven minutes into the game thanks to a brace from Cristian Penilla.

While top defender Chris Mavinga returned to the lineup against New York, veteran Drew Moor was out again and Vanney termed him unlikely for Saturday’s game. Top forwards Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore are questionable.

The dynamic duo missing the game would leave TFC in the familiar position of being short-handed yet again, a common theme.

Designated players Giovinco and Altidore both have a year remaining on their contracts, but many other players have less clear futures. Vanney indicated improving their status could be something they will play for down the stretch.

“Whenever a season doesn’t go according to plans, there’s always a little uncomfortableness in terms of what this group might look like going into the off-season,” he said.

“Everybody feels a little bit of what that is like.”

BONO REFLECTS

Vanney recently gave goalkeeper Alex Bono a “mental break” in order to recalibrate.

It’s been a tough season for everybody on the team and Bono said this week that he was having a particularly hard time with his play and all of the losses.

“On the training field, no matter what I was doing when I got in games, I didn’t feel like myself,” Bono told reporters this week.

“I put it off for awhile, thinking it was just a game here or a game there that I made a couple of mistakes.”

Bono has been called up to the U.S. national team a couple of times this season and has used those breaks as welcome respites.

“It becomes less fun when you’re losing,” Bono said. “It becomes less fun when sometimes you’re the reason that (the team) is losing.”

Bono, only 24 and a big part of last year’s dominant defensive side that eventually hoisted the MLS Cup, looked more like his old self in last Saturday’s 2-0 loss at the New York Red Bulls. He was reading plays well, darting out of the net and couldn’t be faulted for either goal.

“I respected Greg’s decision (to bench him in favour of former starter Clint Irwin). As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew that I needed to reset myself and refocus myself, and go back to the basics,” Bono said.

“Sometimes it’s good to get knocked down like that so you have that period of self-reflection.”

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